Sliding jail-door



(No Model.)

D. MCDONALD.

SLIDING JAIL DOOR.

No. 380,443. Patented Apr. 3,1888.

F'l6.l.

ATTEST ihurrsn STATES PATENT Utmost DONALD MCDONALD, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

SLiDlNG JAIL-DOOR.

BPECEFICATIQIQI forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,443, dated April 3, 1888.

Application filed December 13, 1887. Serial No. 257,823. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DONALD MoDonALn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and usefnl Improvements in Sliding Jail-Doors; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in jail cell-doors, of which the construction and operating and locking mechanism used in connection therewith are such that the cell-doors may be closed or opened, one or more or all at a time, from a position outside the corridor or room into which the cells open, so that the jailer may incarcerate or release the prisoners, one or more or all at a time, without coming in contact with them at the cell-doors or in such corridor or room.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of a corridor of cells, showing two doors and their operating and locking mechanism; and Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.

The doors A, composed, preferably, of bars of iron or steel crossing each other at right angles and riveted at their intersections, are supported on the sliding bars 0, and are stiffened throughout thcirlength by the angleirons M to prevent their being bulged outward. These angle-irons also furnish the nec; essary projections through slots in which the sliding bars 0 work, and by means of holes 1', in which the doors can be locked by the padlocks a and b to the lugs 0. By means of holes in the doors adjacent to audio connection with the holes d in the sliding bars O,the doors may be locked by the padlocks a and b to said sliding bars.

C are two sliding bars of sufficient strength and weight to support the doors without bending. These sliding bars work through the chairs E and are connected by means of the cross-bar I, the braces R, and the nut T and screw S.

cis asquare spindle on the end ofthe screw S.

g is a small pinion-wheel surrounding and fastened to e. 1

it is a larger pinion-wheel fastened to the plate V and turned by the spindle j.

IV is a handle so constructed as to fit either handle W will be placed on spindle c orf. It can be locked to the lug X by theloek p.

j are rollers above the bars 0, on which the doors may be readily slid back and forth by hand when worked independently.

Y is the partition-wall of the corridor.

In practice my improvements operate as follows: If it is desired to let all the prisoners into the corridor for food, exercise, or other purpose,the jailer will take the locks 66 and Z), and after inserting them through the holes (2 lock the doors to the sliding bars G. Then retiring to the outside and closing the entrance door to the corridor he will turn the handle IV until the action of the screw S draws open all the doors. He will then look the doors in that positionby locking the handle IV to the lugX by means of the lock 1) until it is time to close them. \Vhen closed, he will again lock them in the same way. In case there is one cell which it is not desirable to open with the rest,the door of such cell will be locked to the lug 0 instead of to the sliding bars 0. This is done by locking one of the looks through the hole t in the angle-iron and a hole in the lug O, hanging the other lock in its rest-hole 2" instead of locking the looks through the holes d and the adjacent holes in the door. The sliding bars will then work free of such door, and while the other doors open with the operation of the screw this door will remain closed and locked. Of course several alternate or a group of doors may be thus managed. In a similar way one door may be opened.from the outside while the others remain closed and locked, or it may be directly opened by taking the lock out of the holes d and sliding it back by the hand until it rests against the appropriate chair. In this latter way all the doors may be opened and shut independently. The rollers j are to render easy the operation of the doors in this manner.

\Vhen the doors are to be operated by the screw S, if they should prove hard to work or any resistance is made to closing them, the the spindle 0, thus giving great power. If, on the other hand, the doors work easily,thehandle will be placed on the spindlef in order to gain speed.

By providing a duplicate set of the locks a and b additional security,when desirable, may be obtained by locking the doors to the lugs 0 and also to the bars O,while the latter are held steadfast by the handle W being locked to the lug X by the lock 19.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination,with a series of sliding cell-doors, of a sliding framing forming ways upon which said doors may be run, and attaching devices for locking said doors to such framing, whereby the said doors may run thereon or be attached thereto and be opened and closed either singly or collectively by the movement thereof, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with aseries of sliding cell-doors, of a sliding framing forming ways upon which said doors may be run, and attaching devices whereby said doors may be secured to said framing, of operating mechanism for effecting the movement of said framing from a position outside of the cell-corridor, substantially as set forth.

3. Thesliding bars 0, operated from the outside, as described, in combination with the sliding doors A,attachable to said bars, so as to slide therewith and be detachablefrom sald bars, so as to slide independently thereof, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. The sliding doors A, the sliding bars 0, the crossbar P, the nut T, and the screw S, with its spindle attachment, substantially as and for the purposes described.

5. The sliding. doors A, theangle-irons M, the locking-holes i and d, and their adjacent counterparts located as described, and the locks a and b, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. v

DONALD MCDONALD.

Witnesses:

AMos ELLIsoN, ALEX GRISWOLD. 

